Articles on: Reports

How to automatically tag back in stock orders in Shopify

STOQ can automatically add a tag to every Shopify order that originated from a back-in-stock alert. This lets you instantly identify which orders were recovered through your waitlist notifications. You can filter orders by tag in Shopify, build automated workflows around tagged orders, and get a clear picture of how much revenue your back-in-stock alerts are driving — all without any manual work.

How automatic order tagging works

When a customer receives a back-in-stock email or SMS alert from STOQ and then places an order, STOQ detects the connection between the alert and the purchase. If the attribution confidence is medium or high, STOQ adds your chosen tag to the order in Shopify automatically.

STOQ attributes orders using several methods:

UTM tracking via landing site — the customer clicked the alert link and landed on your store with STOQ's UTM parameters.
Customer journey — Shopify's customer journey data shows the customer visited your store through a STOQ alert.
Sent notification matching — the customer received a back-in-stock notification recently and then purchased the same product.

Once an order is attributed with medium or high confidence, the tag is added immediately. The tag appears on the order in your Shopify admin just like any other order tag.

Note: Orders attributed with low confidence (for example, the customer received an alert more than two days before purchasing) are not tagged automatically.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, confirm the following:

STOQ is installed and active on your Shopify store.
Back-in-stock alerts are enabled and sending notifications to customers.
Order tagging is enabled by default. STOQ enables this setting automatically when you install the app, so it may already be active on your store.

###How to setup

Step 1 - Open the Settings page

Head to "Reports" from left menu bar of STOQ
Click on "More" on the top right
From the dropdown, choose Settings.
Scroll down to the Back in stock section.
Find the Order tracking area.

Step 2 - Enable order tagging

Turn on automatic tagging for back-in-stock orders.

In the Order tracking section, find the checkbox labeled Tag orders from back in stock alerts.
Check the box to enable automatic tagging. (This is enabled by default on new installations.)
Click Save in the save bar at the top of the page.

Once enabled, every new order that STOQ attributes to a back-in-stock alert with medium or high confidence will receive the tag automatically.

Step 3 - Customize the order tag (optional)

By default, STOQ uses the tag STOQ-back-in-stock. You can change this to any text you prefer.

After enabling the Tag orders from back in stock alerts checkbox, a text field labeled Order tag appears below it.
Enter your preferred tag text (for example, back-in-stock, recovered-sale, or waitlist-order).
Click Save.

The help text below the field confirms: "Orders originating from back in stock alerts will get this tag automatically."

Tip: Keep the tag short and descriptive. Shopify order tags are case-sensitive, so STOQ-back-in-stock and stoq-back-in-stock are treated as different tags.

Step 4 - View tagged orders in Shopify

Once orders start coming in, you can filter them by tag in your Shopify admin.

Go to Shopify Admin > Orders.
Click the Filter button (or the search bar).
Select Tagged with and enter the tag you configured (for example, STOQ-back-in-stock).
Shopify displays only the orders that STOQ tagged as originating from back-in-stock alerts.

You can also use tagged orders to:

Build Shopify Flow automations — trigger workflows when an order is tagged (for example, send a thank-you email, add a loyalty point, or notify your team).
Export filtered orders — export only back-in-stock orders for reporting or analysis.
Track recovered revenue — count the tagged orders and sum their totals to see how much revenue your alerts have recovered.

How attribution confidence affects tagging

STOQ only tags orders when the attribution confidence is medium or high. Here is how confidence levels work:

Confidence	When it is assigned	Tagged?
High	The customer clicked the alert link with STOQ UTM parameters, or Shopify's customer journey shows a direct STOQ visit	Yes
Medium	The customer received a STOQ notification within the last two days and then purchased the product	Yes
Low	The customer received a notification more than two days before purchasing	No

This prevents false positives — only orders with a clear connection to a back-in-stock alert are tagged.

Known limitations

Only medium and high confidence orders are tagged. Orders where the attribution confidence is low are not tagged, even if the customer did receive an alert.
Tags are added once and not removed. If you later change the tag text, previously tagged orders keep the old tag. STOQ does not retroactively update existing tags.
The tag is applied after order creation. There may be a brief delay (a few seconds) between when the order is placed and when the tag appears in Shopify.
Preorder orders are not tagged with this setting. This feature is specifically for back-in-stock alert orders. Preorder orders have their own separate tagging system.
Custom tag text is a single tag. You cannot add multiple tags at once through this setting. If you need multiple tags, use Shopify Flow to add additional tags when STOQ's tag is detected.
Disabling tagging does not remove existing tags. If you turn off the checkbox, previously tagged orders keep their tags. Only future orders stop being tagged.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Orders are not being tagged	The Tag orders from back in stock alerts checkbox is off	Go to Settings > Back in stock > Order tracking and enable the checkbox, then click Save
Tag does not appear on an order	The order was attributed with low confidence	Check the order in STOQ's reports to see its attribution confidence level. Low-confidence orders are not tagged
Old orders have a different tag than new ones	You changed the tag text after some orders were already tagged	STOQ does not update previously tagged orders. You can manually update old order tags in Shopify
The order tag field is not visible	The checkbox is not enabled	Check the Tag orders from back in stock alerts box first — the tag text field appears only when tagging is enabled
Customer clicked the alert but the order was not tagged	The UTM parameters may have been stripped or the customer used a different browser/device	This can happen if the customer cleared cookies, switched devices, or the landing site URL was modified by a redirect
Tag appears on orders that seem unrelated	STOQ attributed the order based on a recent notification sent to that customer	Check the order attribution in STOQ's reports. If the customer received an alert within two days, the order may be attributed with medium confidence
I want to tag orders with multiple tags	STOQ only adds one tag per order	Use Shopify Flow to add additional tags when an order is created with the STOQ tag
Preorder orders are not tagged with this setting	This setting only applies to back-in-stock alert orders	Preorder orders have their own tagging system under the preorder settings

FAQs

Q: Is order tagging enabled by default?

A: Yes. STOQ enables the Tag orders from back in stock alerts setting by default with the tag STOQ-back-in-stock. You do not need to turn it on manually unless it was previously disabled.

Q: Can I change the tag text after orders have already been tagged?

A: Yes, you can change the tag at any time. However, orders that were already tagged keep the old tag. Only new orders will receive the updated tag. To update old orders, you would need to change their tags manually in Shopify.

Q: Does the tag get added to the order immediately?

A: The tag is added shortly after the order is created — typically within a few seconds. STOQ processes the order attribution and adds the tag via Shopify's API as soon as it detects the connection to a back-in-stock alert.

Q: What happens if I disable order tagging?

A: Existing tagged orders keep their tags. Only future orders stop being tagged. If you re-enable the setting later, new orders will be tagged again, but any orders placed while tagging was disabled will not be retroactively tagged.

Q: Can I use the tag in Shopify Flow automations?

A: Yes. You can create a Shopify Flow that triggers when an order is tagged with your STOQ tag. This lets you automate follow-up actions like sending a thank-you email, adding loyalty points, notifying your team, or adding additional tags.

Q: Does this work with orders from SMS alerts too?

A: Yes. STOQ tags orders regardless of whether the customer received an email alert or an SMS alert. The attribution system tracks both channels and tags qualifying orders from either one.

Q: Why are some orders not tagged even though the customer received an alert?

A: STOQ only tags orders with medium or high attribution confidence. If the customer received the alert more than two days before purchasing, or if the UTM parameters were lost (due to device switching, cookie clearing, or URL redirects), the confidence may be low and the order will not be tagged.

Q: Can I use this tag to calculate recovered revenue?

A: Yes. Filter your Shopify orders by the tag (for example, STOQ-back-in-stock) and export the results. Sum the order totals to see how much revenue was recovered from back-in-stock alerts. You can also view this data directly in STOQ's analytics dashboard.

Updated on: 23/04/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!